I've lurked in these forums for a while, and I've found lots of good recipes, so I thought I'd ask about this. It's past Christmas, but I am looking for a good recipe to make a Yule Log for next year. I've looked around but haven't found one that I think I would actually make. Thanks for any help.

Christine, each year I use the yule log recipe from Jacques Pepin's "The Art of Cooking" cookbook with great success. It's a pretty old book, but I think it's still in print. He has his own website with a yule log recipe on it, too, but that one seems rather more complicated to me.

At any rate, his recipe that I use is quite simple and endlessly variable. The jelly roll cake is easy to make and has never failed me. He provides a chocolate buttercream filling recipe, which I don't use, preferring to roll the cake with a seedless raspberry jam. He also lists an excellent chocolate ganache for the frosting. I like using the jam instead of a buttercream because I think it's lighter after a big holiday meal, but a chocolate or mocha cream filling would be delicious.

If you are interested, I'll post the Jacques Pepin recipe in the Recipe Box. I hope that giving him full credit would avoid any issues of copyright, etc.